Stretcher



lNirni) STATES PATENT OFFICE IVILLIAM H. JOHNSTONE, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STRETCH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 273,287, dated March 6, 1883.

Application filed March 3, 1882. (No model.) Y

for its object the production of a stretcher which can be folded or rolled up and packed in small space, and yet capable of being rapidly set up or put in condition for use.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my stretcher ready for use; Figs. 2

and 3, enlarged detached views of the adjoining inner ends of two sections of a pole, showingthe male and female screws for uniting them at F, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows mystretcher folded and rolled up for packing away.

A B are two sections or sheets of canvas, each having two tubular edges, G G, for passing the hickory poles C C and D Dl through. These poles have folding joints E E near the holding ends, so as to fold under, but to remain` stiff when opened and in use; in other words, the joint only folds in one direction.

F arejoints each formed of a male and female screw, the male being pivoted at H, (see Fig.

2,) so as to turn without requiring the turning ot the whole section D or D of the pole, the coupling being constructed upon about the same principle as a hose-coupling. Any of the various couplings now in use for hose-couplings, or any other suitable coupling for holding the inner ends of the sections of the poles to eachother, may loe used.

G G are the side tubes, formed by lapping the edges of the canvas under and riveting or sewing them in that position.

'I I are bars furnished with rings at their respective ends, whereby they may be slipped over the ends of the parallel bars C C and D D', as shown, to hold the bars at a` proper distance apart when the stretcher is in use. Beneath each of lthese rings a leg, K, may be attached by a hinge, so as to fold inwardly; but these legs may be dispensed with, if desired 5 or they may be attached directly to the bars, near the hand-holds,by hinges, or slipped over by means of rings at their upper ends.

would do as well, or two trunks 'or boxes in a baggage-car will answer the same purpose.

The manner of using my device is as follows:

Suppose it to be rolled up in a car, in the condition shown in Fig. 4, and some person is struck by the engine and mangled or run over,

the device is unrolled andthe pieces of canvas are slid under the injured one, between the person and the ground, to about the relative distance apart which they are to occupy when the poles are inserted. Sect-ions U and G are then slid into their respective canvas tubes, and the same with sections D D', When the ends of the sections are close enough together the joints F F are made by means of the coupling. The bars I I are then slid over the ends of the bars or poles and the patient is trans'- ported to theltrain or nearest hospital or shelter. If the bruises or hurts are such that as little disturbance as possible is essential, the patientis tinally,with thestretcher still beneath him, laid on the hospital-bed, and the bars G C D D are then removed, leavingthe canvas sheets still beneath the injured one. Fresh sheets of canvas, then in readiness, can be substituted for those thus left, and if there are more hurt the operation above described can be repeated. The length of space covered by the canvas sheets A and B together is about six feet. Each bar C C' and D D is about eight feet long. In a small room it might be awkward to remove these bars by their whole length at atime from the sheets, so as to leave the latter beneath the patient, so by uucoupling them in the middle 'at F F the section C In my claims I speak of the rods I I being f detachably connected to the side bars. I mean by this capable 'of being instantly or readily detached. They may be made in the manner IOO l of bar-manacles for prisoners, where a bar terminates on both sides in a clamp-ring which is locked around the wrists. In such oase, instead of locks, a thumbscrewring clamp or catch-ring clamp could be used.

I wish to dispense with the use of separate tools to attach and detach the bars I I. Speed and dispatch in putting the structure together are the objects sought by my invention, as well as convenience in packing.

Eyes and buttons might be substituted for the side tubes to connect with the bars; but this would incline the bars to turn around in the hands of the carriers under great weight, and so loosen or strainthe buttons, unless the rings of rods I I were made polygonalto lit corresponding polygonally-shaped bars. I prefer the tubes G G, as they are cheapest and avoid the last-named diiculty.

What I claim as new is- 1. Afolding stretchercomposed of two bars, each in two sections, C C and D D', detachaably coupled in the middle, substantially as shown, sustaining between them a soft or yielding fabric, in combination with the arms or rods I I, provided with readily-detachable connections with said bars, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. A folding stretcher composed of two bars, each in two sections, C C' and D D', the sections being detachably coupled, as described, sustaining between them a soft or yielding fabric in two parts or sections, A B, in combination with the arms or rods I I, provided with readily-detachable connections lwith said bars, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. A folding stretcher composed of two bars, C C and D D', sustaining between them a soit or yielding fabric, in combination with the arms or rods I I, pr vided with readily-detachable connections with said bars, and hinged legs K K, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. A folding stretcher composed ot' two bars, C G' and D D', sustaining between them a soft or `vielding fabric provided with tubular edges G G, in combination with the arms or rods I I, provided with readily-detachable connections with said bars, substantially as and for the purposes described.

YV. H. JOHNSTONE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE E. BUCKLEY, W M. H. CARSON. 

